Tag Archives: Inspiration

She’s Got That Girl Boss Hustle

SHOULD

WOULD

COULD

DID !

“Little Girls With Dreams Become Girls With Vision”

I’ve always been a dreamer, dreaming the extraordinary, dreaming about things so grand they seem unbelievable to some and flat out crazy to others. I’m a fierce go-getter and not easily discouraged. I believe in the power of my dreams and know, for a fact, that if I can believe it…..I WILL see it!

My husband surprised me with tickets to see Misty Copeland perform with the American Ballet Theatre at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York City last month (que my happy dance!)!!!! He knows how much I admire Misty as an AMAZING ballet dancer, the very first African American principle dancer for the American Ballet Theatre!! Her performance in Don Quixote was nothing short of amazing and I’m so blessed to have been able to see her do what she was born to do. Misty Copeland is the definition of a #GirlBoss! While we were in NYC, one of my fave get-a-way spots because of the lively energy of the city, I had an idea for an impromptu photo shoot right outside our hotel, a block away from Times Square………… and with my Hubby as the photographer 🙂

Y’all know I’m about lifting others as I climb and I think it’s important that women entrepreneurs share stories of our journey, inspiration and encouragement along the way! Its the reason for this blog – to share inspiration, motivation and encouragement on a regular basis to those looking for inspiration while following their dreams.

I’m big on inspirational quotes because they are simple enough to memorize quickly. When I need a bit of inspiration and encouragement in my life, they are easy to recall, but pack a powerful punch! So, here are some pearls of inspiration for the #GirlBosses , #BossLadies , & #WomenOnTheMove !

“When life gives you lemons, don’t just make lemonade. Build a lemonade stand and make a profit! #GirlBossMindset

“Don’t give up. Normally, it is the last key on the ring which opens the door.” – Paulo Coelho

Dr. Carmen April is an entrepreneur and community leader recognized as a 2014 Nashville Emerging Leader (NELA) Award Winner, a 2013 Nashville Business Journal Top 40 Under Forty Award Recipient and is a 2014 Graduate of the New Leaders Council Institute – Nashville Chapter. She is a Law of Attraction Practitioner and an advocate for the power of positive thinking! Dr. April is available for speaking engagements on Leadership and Life Leadership for College Students and Young Professionals.

“God is Within Her. She will not fail” – Psalm 46:5

Today’s post is really simple. The verse featured as the title of this blog post was on my heart and I wanted to share it.

I set the intention of succeeding at everything I do, but honestly, some of the tasks that are before me initially appear to be overwhelming. However, I have to often remind myself that “I can do ALL things through Christ who strengthens me”, “If God be for me, who can be against me?”, and specifically on today – “God is Within Her. She will not Fail.”

Taking a little time to sit down & meditate on all the blessings I experience and posses, reminds me that I can and WILL conquer the day victoriously!

Dr. Carmen April is an entrepreneur and community leader recognized as a 2014 Nashville Emerging Leader Award (NELA) Winner, a 2013 Nashville Business Journal Top 40 Under Forty Award Recipient and is a 2014 Graduate of the New Leaders Council Institute – Nashville Chapter. Dr. April is available for speaking engagements on Leadership and Life Leadership for College Students and Young Professionals.

Write it Down Before It’s Gone………

“Writing it down” is exactly what I had to do when the inspiration struck me for this blog post. Ideas are fleeting and because we have many of them floating around in our minds every day, it benefits us to write down those glimpses of inspiration as they flash across our minds!

I keep a brainstorming sheet next to my laptop at home and at work. I’m always being inspired by “flashes” of ideas for various projects I’m working on. Because the next flash of inspiration is likely not far behind, if I don’t write them down as they come to me, they may likely be gone forever.

Here are some tips that may help you:

❐ Keep a brainstorming sheet in your workspace, both at home and at work

❐ Create a Brainstorming list on your smart phone for those times you are not near your computer or creative space. Use an app such as the iPhone’s notepad or my favorite Smartphone app, Evernote!

❐ If you are one who receives inspiration at night, keep a pen and paper near your bed to transfer those thoughts

❐ If the inspiration requires immediate action, don’t hesitate. Act on it as soon as possible! Opportunities, just like ideas, can be fleeting. Don’t miss out on good opportunities because of procrastination!

❐ For kicks and giggles, keep some of these ideas in a journal (instead of crumbling up the brainstorming sheets and throwing them away) and a year from now, look back on the ideas you had. Some may be great and some may not be worth 2 cents. However, you may find yourself inspired again by ideas long forgotten.

What suggestions do you have for documenting and retaining “flashes of inspiration”?

Dr. Carmen April’s Speaker Series

Dr. Carmen April is a young entrepreneur and community leader recognized as a 2013 Nashville Business Journal Top 40 Under Forty Award Recipient and is a 2014 Graduate of the New Leaders Council Institute – Nashville Chapter. Dr. April is available for speaking engagements on Leadership for College Students and Young Professionals.

Developing Leadership Through Sharing Wisdom

Maya Angelou was such a wise woman – an inspiration for us all. I was so sad to learn of her passing a couple of weeks ago. She was definitely a woman who left her mark on this world and that is truly wonderful! I came across this quote of hers and couldn’t wait to create a blog post around it because I couldn’t agree more!

There is so much wisdom that can be gained from listening to the stories of other people. Hearing the personal successes and struggles of others can give you the courage and the strength to overcome obstacles. It can be that extra “push” you need to take a big step or make a major decision. It call pull you out of feeling isolated when you are dealing with some of the heavy blows life sends our way sometimes.

On my Dinner With Nerds Food Blog, I created a series of interviews with people for this very reason! My “In The Kitchen” and “At The Table” series are interviews I conduct with professional, successful people over dinner/coffee/lunch. I believe we learn more about others in more laid back environments over dinner/coffee/lunch than we do in an office setting or stuffy board room. I know the value of learning from others – their mistakes, successes and journey’s along the way.

Take the time to invite someone for coffee or lunch and invest in learning from their life experiences. We are more alike than we are different! There are common themes we all encounter in everyday life that can be used as inspiration for each other. Let the experience and wisdom of others help you to develop your Leadership skills today!

Dr. Carmen April’s Speaker Series

Dr. Carmen April is a young entrepreneur and community leader recognized as a 2013 Nashville Business Journal Top 40 Under Forty Award Recipient and is a 2014 Graduate of the New Leaders Council Institute – Nashville Chapter. Dr. April is available for speaking engagements on Leadership for College Students and Young Professionals.

The Power of Ideas

We all have ideas. Everyone can dream. However, the sign of an effective leader is being able to take those ideas and put them into action! Try. Experiment. Yes, you will fail every now and then and that’s fine. Failure is an opportunity to begin again with more insight and direction!

In 1985, when Steve Jobs was just 30 years old, he was fired from the company he co-founded – Apple! He had revolutionized personal computing and had built the company into a billion dollar empire! Jobs didn’t let that set-back stop him. He came back from that defeat with ideas that have completely changed the way we use computers, smart phones, music devices and TV! The process of Steve Jobs taking a tiny idea and putting it into action has changed the way the world operates!

What ideas do you have today that should be acted upon to produce change?

Dr. Carmen April’s Speaker Series

This post is part of a series on Leadership presented by Dr. Carmen April. She is a young entrepreneur and community leader recognized as a 2013 Nashville Business Journal Top 40 Under Forty Award Recipient and is currently a 2014 New Leaders Council Fellow – Nashville Chapter. Dr. April is available for speaking engagements on this topic.

15 Ways to Cheer Yourself Up from a Day That Sucks

Just admit it. No matter how “together” we try to run our daily lives, there are days that just plain suck! I had one of those days last week . I woke up with the best intentions for my day going great. I prayed to God for a good day before my feet even hit the floor that morning. I had a delicious breakfast and even snuck in a couple swigs of Mountain Dew (it’s my equivalent of coffee) before I left home for my office. So how in the world did I feel totally defeated by the time the clock struck 5pm???

I have several ways of dealing with this type of day and I’m sharing some of those with you below. Some are things I’ve actually done, some are things that I’m mustering up the courage to do the next time a bad day rolls around and some are things little birdies have stopped by to tell me they’ve done (LOL). I’ll leave it up to you to decipher which is which 🙂 Here it goes:

1.) Find the best 90’s R&B Satellite Radio Station, turn it up, stand in the middle of a room that echos – hairbrush in hand as a microphone, and sing like you’re one of the last 3 contestants standing on American Idol!

2.) Buy the largest container of Vanilla and Salted Caramel Gelato in the grocery store freezer section and eat half of it before you even leave the grocery store parking lot

3.) Flip to the On-Demand station of Comcast and watch the past 3 episodes of your favorite TV show, the same ones you’ve seen twice already

4.) Head to the nail shop to get your toenails painted, even in the dead of winter. Sit in the massage chair for a full 30 minutes after your nails have been polished. Don’t judge. Those massage chairs are awesome!

5.) Drink a glass, or two of a great white wine…….in the extra-large Olivia Pope style wine glasses!

6.) Retail Therapy – Set a budget though. Retail therapy while you are feeling ‘some kinda way’ can have horrible consequences

7. )Put on your best pair of running shoes and hit the pavement with no set destination in mind. Just run for exercise until you get tired…..

8.) Call it a night around 6pm. Lights out………………………………

9.) Have a glass of wine, imagine yourself as a character in a romantic novel………then call it a night around 7pm. Lights out……………………………….

10.) Read a really good book from cover to cover

11.) Go for a ride in a really wealthy neighborhood and imagine what it would be like to live there. If you already live in one of these neighborhoods……never mind.

12.) Cook a huge pot of pasta, preferably Fettuccine Alfredo! Throw in some chicken and Broccoli. It’s a great comfort food.

13.) Have a really good cry about the day that sucked 😦

14.) Pack a bag or two, book a flight, and leave for the Bahamas to enjoy some sun for a day or two

“Our deepest Fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest Fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that scares us. We ask ourselves, “Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? You are a Child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine as children do. We are born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us, it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically LIBERATES OTHERS.

— Marianne Williamson

Your Playing Small Does Not Serve the World

There is so much good teaching going on in this quote that I have to marinate on it for a while and break it down into little, bitty pieces! What I’m focusing on is the part of this quote where Marianne says “Your playing small does not serve the world”! Let me let you in on little something, I literally just got up and did my happy dance right here in my office! I wholeheartedly believe that we starve the world of our gifts when we play it small! it takes the same amount of energy to ‘think small” as it does to “think big” so why in the world do we waste our time on things that ultimately don’t matter and don’t help to make our lives or those around us any better.

Fear is one of the main reasons we “play small”. We are afraid of what others will think, we are afraid we wont be good enough to accomplish our goals. When we can’t put all the pieces together from the get-go and can’t see the end in sight, we get nervous.

Peer Pressure, the desire to conform, is another big reason people often ‘play small’. I speak to a number of youth and high school groups on the topics of life skills, career choices, etc. I’ve had young ladies come up to me after my workshops/lectures and express that parents, family members and friends discourage them from their goals essentially because they perceive them to be ‘too lofty’. I encourage these ladies to be careful of taking advice from ‘any ole’ body’ because people too weak to follow their own dreams will often find a way to discourage yours. They may not understand the gift God has placed in your heart because God gave the insight to YOU, not them! Those not privy to the information will not understand it. Most of the visions that God has ever placed in my heart all started out sounding really crazy because of how GRAND they were! But, I serve an Extraordinary God! He doesn’t do anything half-way or pint-sized! What’s even more awesome is that when my dreams/visions manifested, they turned out much greater than I could have ever imagined and God gets the glory for it!

Be aware that peer pressure is not limited to school age children and youth. Adults experience it as well and sometimes to a much greater degree. I’ve talked with adults who are apprehensive about being proactive in the workplace for fear of being perceived as ‘too aggressive’. I’ve known women who “dumb-down” when dating men because they don’t want to “scare” men off. That’s crazy. What happens when the flirtation phase of meeting someone starts to fade and the individuals’ true character emerges? A man who can’t recognize or appreciate a woman who is using her gifts to Glorify God is not a man I want to be in a relationship with….Period!

What purpose does an unopened gift serve? Absolutely NOTHING! The giver of the gift is not pleased, the recipient of the gift can never experience the joy that comes from it and the gift itself goes to waste and never gets to shine. The people who feel insecure by your gift will feel insecure whether you use it or not because………. that’s just how insecure people are and you can’t change that. You were not born to make God look like an “ok” God that crates mediocre people. Not at all! God creates us to be wonderful, excellent manifestations of His love and to use the gifts He has given us!. Colossians 3:23 says, “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart as if working for God and not for man.” Never play small to satisfy the insecurities of others. I serve a God who is much BIGGER and BETTER than that! Those who are intent on feeling insecure while I do the work God has set out for me to do, can have a seat, sit back and watch me work!

What steps can you take, starting today, to live life in a more bold and intentional way???

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Dr. Carmen April

For over a Decade, Dr. Carmen April has been leading teams and empowering others to tap into their leadership potential. As a Podiatrist, she started a private medical practice at just 30 years old and grew it to over 1,000 New Patients in the first 2 years! She medically and surgically treats a wide array of foot and ankle injuries and conditions including, but not limited to, ankle sprains, fractures, ingrown toenails, toenail fungus, and tendonitis. A large portion of her practice is dedicated to treating diabetic patients and the foot complications that are often associated with this disease.
Honored as a 2014 Nashville Emerging Leader Award (NELA) Winner, a 2013 Nashville Business Journal Top Forty Under 40 and 2014 Leadership Fellow of New Leaders Council, Dr. April has proven her Leadership acumen in career and community. She's been featured in local and national media sharing her expert tips on Foot & Ankle health topics, Leadership, Self-Development and Entrepreneurship.
Dr. April is married to her wonderful husband, Mr. Lionel Washington, and they enjoy traveling and creating awesome memories together!